Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

15 Apr

15 April 2021

A series of daily updates for CHO members regarding relevant updates pertaining to Coronavirus from home and abroad.

Key Announcements:

  • The number of people who tested positive for the virus yesterday in the UK was 2,491. A total of 38 people died having tested positive within 28 days.
  • As of the 13th April , 32,326,604 people had received the first dose of a vaccine in the UK and 8,170,081 people had received a second dose of vaccine.
  • The Department of Health and Social Care opened a consultation yesterday seeking views on a proposal to make COVID-19 vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes. The deadline for responding to the consultation is Friday 21st
  • The government has announced that surge testing will be deployed in Finchley, Barnet where a confirmed case of the South African variant has been identified.
  • Universities Minister Michelle Donelan will answer an urgent question in the Commons today on the return date given to university students and plans to provide financial compensation to university students for lost teaching and rent during the coronavirus pandemic. This shall take place at approximately 10:30am.
  • A BMJ editorial has found that fighting airborne transmission would be key to any future attempts to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. The team, which includes both microbiologists and engineers, also stated: “The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 after touching surfaces is now considered to be relatively minimal.”

Devolved

  • Anyone who is not able to work from home in Wales will be able to get free rapid home testing kits, the Welsh government has announced.
  • The National Records of Scotland has published figures which show that virus-related death rate fell from 259 per 100,000 population in February to 69 last month. This means that March has been the first month since October where Covid has not been the leading cause of death in the country.
  • The Northern Ireland Executive is expected to sign off on some indicative dates for reopening parts of the economy.

International

  • The FT is reporting that 175 figures including ex-world leaders such as Gordon Brown have urged the US to take action to suspend intellectual property rights for covid-19 vaccines in the effort to boost global inoculation rates.
  • Coronavirus infection rates in India have reached record highs with 184,372 cases being reported in the last 24 hour period.
  • Reuters have reported that Greece plans to lift quarantine restrictions from next week for travellers from the European Union and some other countries who have been vaccinated or test negative for COVID-19 according to a senior Government source.

Stakeholders

  • Responding to the consultation on mandatory vaccination for care home staff, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Boosting the number of vaccinations in the social care sector is essential for everyone’s safety. But mandatory jabs are the wrong approach and a massive distraction. Too heavy-handed an approach could backfire badly. Some staff may simply up and go, leaving a poorly paid sector already struggling with thousands and thousands of vacancies in a terrible state. That could damage the quality of care for the elderly and vulnerable, and no-one wants that.”
  • EasyJet CEO has told the Independent that quarantine should not be imposed on arrivals from major countries ‘unless something happened’. He called for all major European countries to be put on the government green category when international travel from the UK is allowed.